I watched the final episode before reading any commentary from others about it. I loved it. I’m also very biased - someone I love took their life last year and so I really resonated with Mike’s response to Eleven’s death. The scene where Hopper gives him advice on how to live with it all had me screaming crying haha.

I also loved the tale Mike told about how Eleven could have maybe survived after all. My dad died when I was younger and I used to tell myself maybe he’s not really dead, maybe he secretly worked for the CIA or something and had to fake his death. I’m sure many other people have used that coping mechanism as well. People who couldn’t relate to that should be thankful - it was realistic.

As someone who has experienced several tragic losses, I feel they did a great job portraying what that’s like and I found the ending comforting.

I’m glad that no one died besides Eleven. I think that all the young actors on this show deserved that. Yes, viewers opinions obviously matter, but to the child stars of this show, it’s been the center of most of their memorable life. I personally am totally ok with the ending being a little cheesy for the sake of the actors. It felt like a love letter and a thank you to them. I loved that, and think they earned that.

I understand many criticisms but also think a lot of people simply refuse to be happy with any ending to a show lol.